As we already know, the southeast universities are very dynamic. To illustrate this, Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University are among the US News college list as first ranks of best US universities.Moreover, an Emory University’s biologist figures in the 10 more brillant american scientists.To conclude, the University of Miami expends itself in opening a Life Science and Technology Park which wil "conduct in international partnerships".

Scientific news from the Southeast USA

UNC opens first inpatient perinatal psychiatry unit in U.S., University of North Carolina, 09/14/2011.The UNC Department of Psychiatry and the UNC Center for Women’s Mood Disorders have opened a 5-bed unit for women with moderate to severe post-partum depression (PPD). The unit is the first of its kind in the United States. It is modeled after European mom-and-baby units. Ten to fifteen percent of women will have PPD, 5 percent of them will need specialized inpatient care. The new unit will have specialized programming for women during pregnancy and postpartum.>>Learn more

Controlling silicon evaporation improves quality of graphene, Georgia Institute of Technology (GA), 09/22/2011.One of the key decisions faced by people living with HIV, and by their health-care providers, is when to start treatment.Some recent studies have found that starting highly active antiretroviral therapy earlier is better. Now a new study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that there may be a limit to how early the therapy, known as HAART, should start.>>Learn more

Some recent studies have found that starting highly active antiretroviral therapy earlier is better. Now a new study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that there may be a limit to how early the therapy, known as HAART, should start.>>Learn more

Scientific news from France

Fifty new exoplanets come to light also available in French, CNRS, 09/12/2011.An international team of astronomers including French researchers at CNRS, UPMC and UVSQ, has today announced the discovery of 50 new extrasolar planets in orbit around nearby stars. This impressive haul, collected by ESO’s (1) Chile-based highly-performing exoplanet-searcher HARPS, includes 16 super-Earths, in other words planets whose mass is comprised between one and ten times that of the Earth. >>Learn more

Blood marker used to detect predisposition to depression, INSERM, 09/15/2011.When rats are subject to intense stress, only those who experience lasting alterations to the neural structure in specific areas of the brain develop symptoms of depression after a further stressful episode. These findings were recently discovered by a team led by Jean-Jacques Benoliel from the Brain & Spine Institute research centre (UPMC/Inserm U975/CNRS) at the Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière. Their research has also characterized a reliable biomarker in rats that makes it possible to detect vulnerability to depression.>>Learn more

Faster than light ?, also available in French, CNRS, 09/23/2011.Neutrinos that travel faster than light? This seems to be the conclusion of the measurements performed by a team of researchers led by Dario Autiero, a CNRS researcher, as part of the OPERA international experiment. >>Learn more

Monkeys also reason through analogy, also available in French, CNRS, 09/23/2011.Recognizing relations between relations is what analogy is all about. What lies behind this ability? Is it uniquely human? A study carried out by Joël Fagot of the Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive (CNRS/Université de Provence) and Roger Thompson of the Franklin & Marshall College (United States) has shown that monkeys are capable of making analogies.>>Learn more

International exchange programs, the establishment of branches abroad, joint research have seen an exponential increase in the last decade. The aim of this symposium is to share ideas and experiences in transatlantic cooperation. Also, ground for future cooperation will be explored, especially with the private sector, with large companies such as PSA Peugeot-Citroën, Total or Imerys.

Dr. G. P. “Bud” Peterson, President of the Georgia Institute of Technology, will open the symposium and welcome His Excellency Monsieur François Delattre, French Ambassador to the United States. Participants also include Alain Bravo, General Director of Supelec; Sylvain Allano, Scientific Director of PSA Peugeot-Citroën; and Thierry Salmona, General Director Innovation, Research & Technology of Imerys. Participants will explore concrete ways to further strengthen US-French cooperation.

The Georgia Institute of Technology is organizing a one-day workshop on graphene, the ultra-thin carbon material that promises to advance electronics beyond silicon. Leading French and American scientists in the field will give keynote presentations and share ideas to nurture existing partnerships and foster new collaborations between U.S. and French research institutions. Dr. Albert Fert, Nobel Prize 2007 in Physics will give a keynote lecture on Graphene and Spintronics.

The Emory Transplant Center at Emory University will host French and American immunologists and transplant physicians who will address critical topics on the care of renal transplant patients. Distinguished research scholars, such as Dr. Christophe Legendre (Necker Hospital), Dr. Lionel Rostaing (Rangueil-Toulouse Hospital), Dr. Jean-Paul Soulillou (Nantes Hospital), Dr. Antonio Guasch and Dr. Thomas Pearson (Emory School of Medicine), will give presentations, share ideas, and exchange best practices in the diagnosis and management of patients.

The Emory University School of Medicine will host French and American experts who will discuss geriatric nephrology. On-patient demographics and risk factors for development of chronic kidney disease in elderly patients, disparities in access to the renal transplant waiting list, transplant outcomes, and options for renal replacement therapies and dialysis vascular access will be some of the many issues addressed. Dr. Bénédicte Stengel (INSERM), Dr. Christian Jacquelinet (France Biomedical Agency), Dr. William McClellan and Dr. Monnie Wasse (Emory University) are among the many participants.

The Office for Science and Technology in the USA has a website

The Office of Science and Technology has a dual role : to aid in strengthening the role of French science and technology in the United States, to disseminate in France information on American research and development policy as well as current events in science and technology.

The Office of Science and Technology operates in close conjunction with numerous French institutions: research organizations, universities and engineering schools, centers for technology transfer, incubators, businesses… and by different means: promotional actions, Franco-American collaborative development, and information collection.

The European Science café took place last wednesday!

What is the goal? One of the european consulates designates a scientific of its nationality for the european meeting. This scientific will present a subject in front of a varied audience at the Alliance francaise and the German Cultural Center which will host this monthly event.Wednesday’s subject that had been discussed was "A Global Strategy for a 21st-Century University- The View from Liverpool" by Professor John Caldwell, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Liverpool.>>Learn more

Innovation, "U.S. labs are not afraid of a social blockage"

How do Americans perceive technical and scientific innovation and its consequences? That is what two French deputies, Claude Birraux and Jean-Yves Le Déaut, tried to understand while traveling to the United States.

To prepare their report on "Innovation to the test of fear and risk," the two French deputies went on a mission to the United States. Claude Birraux and Jean-Yves Le Déaut, from the French Parliamentary Office for Evaluation of Scientific and Technical Choices (OPECST), met experts and decision makers to understand how thinking on innovation and its consequences is expressed in different countries. In France, the aborted debate on nanotechnology has left bad memories…

Jets from Unusual Galaxy Centaurus A

NASA engineer Ernie Wright looks on as the first six flight ready James Webb Space Telescope’s primary mirror segments are prepped to begin final cryogenic testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

It should succeed the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018. A laser system, called interferometer, measures the deformation of the mirror while the temperature is lowered to -400°F, slightly below their normal operating range in space. The mirrors must keep their shape within 25 billionths of a meter to function properly.

The texture which appears on the mirrors is the reflection of a stitch of Wright’s sterile gown.